The Road

Today, as I was sitting around my mind began to wander and I began to contemplate something.  Life is a lot like roads.  Let me explain in my own way what I mean.

Have you ever been on a familiar road heading somewhere only to end up at your destination without remembering a single event along the way?  Or, have you ever arrived somewhere and realized you had your child still in the backseat that was supposed to be dropped off at daycare or wherever, but you drove straight to work or whatever the destination simply out of routine and habit?  If not don't read any further because you won't get it.  If you have, however, read on and maybe a little bit of my meandering (to move aimlessly and idly without fixed direction) thought will cause you to think.

Back to the roads thing...

As the recent events in my life have caused me to “change roads” I began to think about this.  It seems that the roads we are most familiar with, the roads to which we are comfortable and accustomed, can often cause us to actually end up in the wrong place.  If you travel the road simply out of routine and habit and never even capture any of the moments on the journey, was it worth the trip in the first place?  Your destination is not always the best part of the journey, but sometimes the journey itself is the best part.  So if we are constantly traveling life’s road simply in routine with no real thought process going on and no conscious effort of making sure we end up in the right place, we run the risk of ending up in the wrong place simply out of routine.

At the same time, in life often the turns in the road are what gets us to our destination of destiny.  No one ever accomplished something great by doing the same thing they had always done.  They decided that life had to be lived consciously by them and they had to make a difference in one way or another.  The turns we take in life, just like on a physical road, may take us somewhere we’re not completely familiar with and we may have to slow down a little and actually concentrate on the journey instead of just going through the motions. 

Recently I have come to a place where I had to make a “turn” in my life.  This turn took me to a new place I had never been.  Which also made me realize that sometimes we not only have to turn off of the familiar roads onto less familiar roads, but we even have to turn off and build the road ourselves to get to our destination.  The road you take to your destination may not always be familiar, and it may not be comfortable, but know that when you reach the destination that was laid out for you before you were created it will be worth slowing down and realizing you need to take some time to live and enjoy the journey instead of just going through it like a zombie.